Sean Dyche was set to be sacked at Everton and replaced by Ralf Rangnick before Dan Friedkin’s takeover collapsed, according to Alan Nixon.
The journalist reported via his Patreon on 25 August that the American wanted the former Manchester United manager to come in for a “football supremo” role behind the scenes at Goodison Park, similar to what he had done for the Red Bull group before his time at Old Trafford.
The German has “restored his reputation” after leading the Austria national team at Euro 2024 but was in line to join the Toffees in a “dramatic” Premier League return before Friedkin pulled out of his deal with Farhad Moshiri.
Complications around loans owed to previous failed buyers 777 Partners saw the buy-out fall through, as well as an increasingly strained relationship with the current Everton majority shareholder [Price of Football, 23 July].
Everton missed out on former Manchester United boss
The prospective Friedkin ownership at Goodison continues to represent what might have been for a Toffees fanbase that finally felt close to a new era.
The chaos of the Moshiri reign has left the club routinely fighting at the wrong end of the Premier League table amid endless concerns over the finances.
Sean Dyche can reasonably point to a major injury crisis already, despite six summer signings, but a pair of heavy defeats to start the campaign suggests it could be more of the same.
Brighton and Tottenham both figure to be strong this term but a weakened Toffees squad has not put up a huge fight.
John Textor has replaced Friedkin and reportedly has a new exclusivity agreement with Moshiri [The Athletic, 15 August], but there is yet to be an announcement to that effect and he still has to sell his 45% holding in Crystal Palace before anything can be done on Merseyside.
With cash forecast to run out by around November [Kieran Maguire, 31 July] as things stand there needs to be major advances in the takeover picture or the financial situation could turn dire once more.
Rangnick will quite possibly never work for Everton, barring a dramatic Friedkin return in the future, and as things stand it looks like Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell are unlikely to be removed whatever happens, even as they enter the final year of their contracts.